The DC Short Film Festival started Thursday night
and runs through next Sunday. This weekend I saw “Suite 8,” a 90-minute chunk
of a series of short films.
But before I get to the movies,
- Happy Birthday Sister1!!! I love you!!!
And now let’s backtrack to Friday.
I got off work and felt lazy, sluggish, and overfed
(I had a snack-heavy week). I wanted to do
something, but not just any something - I wanted to run. So I
embarked on my favorite 7-mile loop, planning to run the first 4 miles, then
run/walk the last 3 (making my comeback – woot woot!). It got dark in Rock
Creek Park sooner than I expected (hello fall!), making the trails a bit tricky
to navigate. I ran 5 miles straight, then took a total of 4x2-minute walk
breaks towards the end. Awesome. Yay running!
Saturday I may have overdone it a bit in the workout
department…I went to bikram yoga from 9-10:30, and then to Wilson Pool for 2
hours of pool running. By the time I pulled myself out of the pool I was
heavy-legs stairs-are-difficult exhausted,
but in a good way. I love the lots-of-exercise tired, it feels so
satisfying.
And now onto Sunday. I’ve never been to a short film
festival before and I really enjoyed it. How it works is that filmmakers submit
their movies to the festival, and then 145 finalists are selected to be shown
and judged over 4 days.
You may or may not know that for 2 years in college
I majored in Film (until I switched to International Relations). I’m not going
to claim to be an expert film critique, but I do enjoy some analysis. And my
favorite film class was Screenwriting. You’d be surprised by how hard it is to
come up with a good, non-cliché, short film plot!
The films varied in content and style, from
disturbing to cute to animated to hand-held cameras. I think my favorite was "Larsen" ("Feedback"), a quirky French short about a 30-year-old woman that asks the question of who is narrating your life?
Watching all those films worked up an appetite, so I
followed the movies with dinner at Oyamel, a Mexican tapas bar owned by
celebrity chef Jose Andreas. It was delicious.
I didn’t go for the famous Grashopper Tacos (I’m an adventurous eater, but I
draw the line at bugs), but everything I tried was good.
Ceviche de huachinango Red snapper ceviche with avocado in salsa
mexicana of tomato, sweet onion, cilantro and lime juice
Arrachera Con Salsa Molcajete grilled
skirt steak with a sauce of grilled tomatoes, tomatillos, green onions,
cilantro and green chiles, garnished with pickled cactus paddle
Nopal Asado Con Salsa Molcajete grilled
fresh cactus paddles served with a salsa molcajete of grilled tomatoes,
tomatillos, green onions, cilantro and green chiles
Taco De Birria Estilio Guadalajara guadalajara
style goat, veal and lamb taco in a cascabel, ancho and guajillo chile sauce
with onions and cilantro
Quesadilla De Chicharrones pasture
raised shenandoah valley pork belly fried until crisp and served in a house
made tortilla with chihuahua cheese and a sauce of five chiles
And the dessert was beyond – so rich and creamy, definitely
not for the faint of heart!
Pastel De Tres Leches Con Piña a
traditional cake soaked in coruba rum and three kinds of milk, with a rum and
milk foam, fresh pineapple gelatin and a pineapple salsa. served with a scoop
of caramel ice cream.
I hope you too had a weekend full of good workouts, amusing entertainment, and delicious food!
